Shear.



B. K; FORD.

SHEAR.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 26, 1913. RENEWED MAR. 27. ms.

Patented June 6, 1916.

4 SHEETSSHEET I.

l/VI/ E/VTOR J5 cLnR in ex.

' ATTORNEY Patented June 6, 1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

B. K. FORD.

SHEAR,

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 26. I913- RENEWED MAR. 27, I916.

Iii/VENTOB BMXK. 90%

WITNESSES:

B. K. FORD.

SHEAR.

APPLICATION FIL ED FEB.26,1913- RENEWED MAR. 27, 1916- I 1,185,787.Patented June 6, 1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

Willi?- {June/Moz- BEN K. roan, or nnraorr, mronrean.

S EAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 6, 1916.

Application filed February 26, 1913, Serial No. 750,832. Renewed March27, 1916. Serial No. 87,089.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BEN K. FORD, a citizen I of the United States, and aresident of Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, haveinvented a new and useful Shear, of which the following is a specification. Y

This invention relates to means for cutting sheets of plaster board,paper. or other material which is produced in large, continuous sheetsinto predetermined lengths, and its object is to provide a shear whichshall be simple in operation, which shallbe adapted to sever the movingsheet by travel ing with it during the shearing operation, and whichshall automatically return to starting position. This invention consistsin combinationwith a self-contained vertically movable shear mounted onproper wheels and a track for the same, of a cylinder and piston adaptedto move said'shear back and-forth along the track, and means under thecontrol of the sheet as it passes between the shear members foraptuating the shear and for controlling the fiuid which moves the shearalong its track. 1

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of the shear.Fig. 2 is a vertical section of a brake. Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectionon the line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing aportion of the electric wiringf Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of thepneumatic cylinder. -Fig. 6 is a vertical, longitudinal section of theentire construction. Fig. 7 is an elevation of the controlling shaft..Fig. 8 is a detail on a larger scale of a portion of the controllingmechanism. Figs. 9 and 10 are elevations of the main switch. Fig. 11 isan elevation of the second switch and Fig. 12is a view of the samelooking up from the bottom. Fig. 13 is a section on the line 13-13 ofFig. 14. Fig. 14 is a vertical section through the clutch on the mainshaft of the shear. Fig. 15 is an end elevation of the shear.

Similar reference characters refer, to like parts throughout the severalviews.

Plaster board,. heavy paper and other fibrous materials are continuouslyproduced in long sheets or hands of considerable width. It isdesirablethat the movement of this wide band of material shall not be intertheseedges means a loss of material.

rupted, and it is also desirable that this material shall be cut intopredetermined lengths so that it can be handled, and that these lengthsbe approximately correct so that a second shearing to length isunnecessary. It is also desirable that the cut edges shall be smooth, asany breaking or cracking of The construction shown in the accompanyingdrawings, in which the shear is connected to.

the paper and moves with it during the shearing operation andimmediately afterward releases the paper so that it can again move thedesired distance before the shear shown, having V-shaped grooves 2 toreceive the wheels 3 rigidly secured on the shafts 4. The side frames 5of the press have bosses 6 in which these shafts are mounted;Verticallyv slidable in the side frames 5 are the plates 7 and 8, thelatter carrying the movable shear member 9. A main shaft 10 extendsacross between the side frames 5 and carries cranks 11 on which aremounted the connecting rods 12, which rods extend to the pins 13 carriedby the vertically movable slide 8. On this shaft are mounted, the largegear 15, the brake drum 16 and the cam 17. A strap 18 extends around thebrake drum and is adjusted by the bolt 19 and supported by the pin 20 sothat a constant drag on the shaft is produced in order to stop the sameas soon as the power is disconnected. v The large gear 15 is not securedto the' main shaft but is provided with an annular flange 22, shown inFig. 13, having interior teeth 23. A ring 24 is secured to the shaft bymeans of a key 25 and carries a pawl 26 normally'held outward by meansof a spring 27. Mounted in the side frame 5 is a pin 28 normally heldoutward in the path. of the pawl 26 by means of a spring 29. Abell-crank lever is mounted on the pin 30 and has a bifurcated arm 32engaging the pin 33 on the pin 28, and also having an armature 34 whichmay be attracted by the electro-magnet 35. A wire 36 leads to thiselectro-magnet from the secondary switch shown in Figs. 11 and 12.

A. second shaft 38 is mounted in the frames and has secured to it thegear 39 and the pinion 40, which latter meshes with the big gear 15 onthe crank shaft. A third shaft 41 is mounted in the frames and carries apinion 43 which meshes with the gear 39 and also carries a gear 44 whichmeshes with the pinion 45 on the driving shaft of the motor 46. Thismotor is constantly in motion so that the main gear 15 runs at alltimes.

The sheet of fibrous material is indicated by the dotted line 59 in Fig.6 and passes through between the shear members 9 and 47, which latterare carried by the cross bars 48 as shown in Fig. 6. The verticallyslidable plate 7 is carried by links 49 and arms 50 on the shaft 51. Acounter-weight 53 is mounted on the outer end of the arm 54, alsosecured to this shaft. A. third arm 56 is mounted on this shaft andcarries a roller 57 which engages the cam 17 as shown in Fig. 1. Whenthe shaft 10 begins to revolve, the firstmovement will be to depress thearm 56 and thereby the plate 7. thus gripping the sheet of fibrousmaterial between this plate and the lower shear member 47 directlybeneath it. Immediately thereafter the cranks will depress the otherplate 8 and cause the shear member 9 to pass down between the shearmembers 47, thus severing the paper along smooth and straight lines.

The fibrous material which this machine is adapted to cut into sheets ofpredetermined length has considerable stiffness, but not alwayssufficiently so that it can be re lied upon to 1110\0 the shear on itsways. In order to take up this endwise stress on the fibrous material, acylinder and piston rod are provided and the motive power may besupplied by any fluid under pressure, but preferably by compressed air.Referring to Figs. 5 and 6, the cylinder 55 will be seen mounted betweenthe tracks 1 by means of the bars 61, which cylinder has a rear head 56and a front head 57 provided with a stuffing boX 58 in which is slidablethe piston rod 59. On the inner end of the piston rod is mounted thepiston 60 having rings 62 and a piston head 63. The piston is preferablyprovided with a boss 64 over which a washer '65, preferably leather, isheld by means of the nut 66 which may be screwed onto the piston rod.The piston head 63 may have a similar boss 67 to receive the washers 68,held in place by means of the metal washer 69 and screw 70. The head 56has a depression 72 while the head. 57 has n. depression 73, whichdepressions constitute dashpots that receive the bosses and prevent thepiston striking against the cylinder heads. The cylinder is formed witha well known valve chamber 75 into which a pipe 76 connects. Ports 77and 7 8 connect to the ends of the cylinder and a valve rod 79 carriesthe pistons 80 and 81. A. spring 83 is adapted-to pull the valves to theleft in Fig. 5.

A. bar 85 extends between the sides 5 of this shear and into this theouter end of the piston rod 59 is secured as shown in Fig. 6. On thetracks 1 are mounted the bearings 87 in which the cross shaft 88 isrevolubly mounted. This shaft supports the levers 89 and 90 and on thisshaft may be wound a spring 91 to counterbalance the pull of the spring83. These two springs are preferably of the same tension so thatthelevers 89 and 90 and the valves 80 and 81 will remain in any positionwhere they may be placed. As it may be desired to cut the sheets ofdiffer ent lengths, the bearings 87 may be adjustably secured to thetracks 1 by means of the hooks 93, and the rod 79 may pass through aneye 94 carried by the lever 89 as shown in Fig. 8, the rod 79 beingsecured by means of a set screw 95.

When the sheet 59 has been produced of suflicient length to strike thelever 89, this lever will be swung outward, that is to the left in Fig.6. and the valve rod 79 pushed inwardly until the valves are in theposition shown in Fig. 5. This will cause pressure in the outer end ofthe cylinder and move the piston and piston rod to the left in Fig. 6,causing the shear and the sheet to travel together. The stiffness andtensile strength of the sheet are such that should the pressure in thecylinder be less or more than sufficient to alone move the shear, thestrength of the sheet will cause them to move together. Immediatelyafter the shear begins to move longitudinally of the tracks, theshearing operation takes place.

As was stated before, the gear 15 revolves 1 constantly, and the pawl 26is held out of engagement with the teeth 23 in the manner shown in Fig.13. If an electric current were passed over the wire 36, the magnet 35would be energized and the pin 28 withdrawn from back of the pawl 26,and the spring 27 would be permitted to swing the pawl 26 into theposition shown in dotted lines .in Fig. 13, whereupon the revolving gear15 would carry with it the disk 24 a nd the main shaft. In order toclose the circuit to this magnet 35, the construction shown in Figs. 4,9 and 10 may be employed. A current source 98 of any desired characterconnects to the ground 99 by means of a wire 100. This ground ispreferably the frame of the shear or its track. From the current source98 a wirell02 connects to the plate 103 mounted on a bearing 87 adjacentthe lever 90, which plate 103 is insulated in any desired manner.Mounted on the lever 90 is a second contact plate 104, to which a wire105 connects. This wire also connects to the contact plate 106, shown inFigs. 11 and 12, which contact plate is n ted on one of the lines.

tracks 1. Mounted on one of the sides 5 is a contact plate 107 fromwhich the wire 36 eX-- turned and the contact plate 104'will engage thecontact plate 103, closing the circuit between the current source andthe magnet 35.v This will cause the pin 28 to be withdrawn, the pawl 26to swing out into the path of the teeth 23 on the gear 15, and the mainshaft 10 of the shear to turn. As soon as the shaft 10 begins to turn,the vertically slidable plate 7 descends and grips the sheet 59 betweenit and the adjacent shear plate 47.

At practically the same instant that the plate 7 grips the sheet offibrous material, the pressure in the cylinder 55 is sufficiently greatto just about move the shear along on its ways, which will result in theshear and paper moving together. As soon as this occurs,- the contactbetween the plates 106 and 107 will be broken and the electromagnet 35deenergized, permitting the spring 29 to move the pin 28 into the pathof the pawl 26 so that when the shaft 10 has made onecompleterevolution, the gear 15 will be disconnected from it. This, and thebrake 18, will cause the main shaft to stop in the desired position atthe end of each revolution. The revolution of the main shaft 10 causesthe cam 17 to depress the arms 50 and the plate 7 to grip the paper asbefore stated. Immediately afterward,

the cranks 11 will depress the plate 8 and the shear member 9, whichlatter passes between the shear members 47 and severs the fibrousmaterial along straight, parallel The lower edge of this shear member 9is preferably in the form of two inclines meeting at the center, asshown in Fig. 15.

Immediately after the shearing is completed,

the workjmen lift the severed sheet from the machine. The forward end ofthe sheet will slide up over the upper ends of the levers 89 and 90, andhold these levers down until the ,sheet has been lifted off. The shearkeeps on moving until the fingers 110 on the cross bar 85, shown in Fig.6, engage a collar 111 on the valve rod 79 and move this valve rodoutward to such position as will permit the air to pass into the frontend of the cylinder through the port 78, whereupon the piston, pistonrod and shear will be forced back to original position.

Many of the details of construction shown in the drawing may be changedwithout departing from the spirit of my invention. Thus the entireshearing mechanism may be removed and a different device substituted solong as such new shear will operate at the proper time and may be movedwith the sheet, all under control of the sheet.

I claim.

1. The combination of a track, a normally inoperative shear movablealong the track' and having a cutting member, electrically operatedmeans for releasing the cutting members, mechanism for moving the shearalong the track, means in the path of the sheet to be severed to controlthe mechanism, and a switch under the control of said sheet to close thecircuit to said releasing means forthe cutting member.

2. The combination of a track, a normally inoperative shear having.cutting members transverse to the track, electrically operated means forreleasing the cutting members, a pneumatic cylinder mounted on thetrack, a piston therein and a piston rod' connecting to the shear, aValve to control the move.-

ment of-the piston, means in the path of the sheet to be severed toactuate the valve, and a switch under the control ofsaid-sheet to closethe circuit to said releasing means for the cutting members.

3. The combination of a'track, a frame mounted thereon comprising twoside members and a pair of cross bars, flat cutter bars mounted on thecross bars, a presser plate and a, shear plate -vertically movable insaid side members, a normally stationary main crank shaft and meansoperatively con tinuously moving sheet of fibrousmaterial,

a track for the shear parallel to the direc-' tionof movement of saidsheet, a pneumatic cylinder mounted on said track to move the shearalong with the sheet'and back to. normal position after the sheet hasbeen cut,

a valve for the cylinder, means. in the path of the sheet for moving thevalve to cause the shear to be moved with the sheet, and means operableby the shear when it has moved a predetermined distance to change theposition of the valve so that the shear shall be moved back to normalposition.

5. The combination of a shearfor a continuously moving sheet of fibrousmaterial, a track for the shear, an electro-magnet to control theactuation of said shear, a circuit therefor, a normally open and anormally. closed switch in said circuit, a pneumatic cylinder connectedto said shear to move the. same with said sheet, a valve for saidcylinder, means in the path of said sheet to close the normally openswitch so that said shear will be actuated to sever the sheet and tomove the valve to cause the cylinder to move the shear with the sheetduring its actuation and thereby also open the normally closedswitch,and means mounted on the shear to reverse/the valve after the actuationof the shear so that the shear will be moved back to normal position.

6. The combination of a shear for a continuously moving sheet of fibrousmaterial comprising two flat bars and a third bar movable down betweenthe other two, an actuating mechanism for the movable bar, a normallyinactive connector between them, electrically energized means to causethe connector to become operative, an electric circuit therefor having anormally open switch, means in the pathof the sheet to be sheared toclose the switch, and means controlled by said sheet to break saidcircuit immediately after the shear begins to operate.

7. The combination of a track, a shear for a continuously moving sheetof fibrous material, wheels supporting said shear and running on saidtrack, a pneumatic cylinder mounted on the track and connected to saidshear to move the shear back and forth along the track, a lever mountedon the track in the path of the sheet, a valve for said cylinder, and arod connecting the lever and valve whereby the valve will be shiftedwhen the sheet engages the lever.

8. The combination of a track, a shear for a continuously moving sheetof fibrous material, wheels supporting said shear and running on saidtrack, a pneumatic cylinder mounted on the track and connected to saidshear to move the shear back and forth along the track, a lever mountedon the trackin the path of the sheet, a valve for said cylinder, a rodconnecting the lever and valve whereby the valve will be shifted whenthe sheet engages the lever, an arm mounted on the shear, and a collaron said rod in the path of the arm whereby the valve will be shifted tonormal position to cause the cylinder to move the shearback to startingposition.

9. The combination of a shear longitudinally movable along the line ofmovement of a sheet or bar to be severed, a gripper for the sheet orbar, means for actuating the gripper to seize the sheet and means forthereafter actuating the shear to sever the sheet.

10. The combination of a shear movable along the line of movement ofasheet to be severed, a gripper for the sheet, means for actuating thegripper to seize the sheet, means for thereafter actuating the shear tosever the sheet, the means for actuating the gripper and. the means foractuating the meters? shear being controlled by the movement of thesheet.

11. The combination of a shear, means for moving the shear along theline of movement of a sheet to be severed, a gripper for the sheet,means for actuating the gripper to .seize the sheet, means forthereafter actuating the shear to sever the sheet, and means operated bythe movement of the sheet for controlling the gripper and shearactuating means.

12. The combination of ashear, means for moving the shear along the lineof travel of a sheet to be severed, a gripper for the sheet, means foractuating the gripper to seize the sheet, means for thereafter actuatingthe shear to sever the sheet, and a magnet energized by the movement ofthe sheet for controlling the gripper and shear actuating means.

13. The combination of a track, a normally inoperative shear movablealong the track, a gripper for the sheet to be severed, means foractuating the gripper to seize the sheet and means for thereafteractuating the shear to sever the sheet.

14. The combination of a track, a normally inoperative shear movablealong the track, a gripper for the sheet to be severed, means foractuating the gripper to seize the sheet, means for thereafter actuatingthe shear to sever the sheet, the means for actuating the gripper andthe means for actuating the shear being controlled by the movement ofthe sheet.

15. The combination of a track, a normally inoperative shear movablealong the track, a gripper for the sheet to be severed, means foractuating the gripper to seize the sheet, means for thereafter actuatingthe shear to sever the sheet, and means operated by the movement of thesheet for controlling the gripper and shear actuating means.

16. The combination of a track, a normally inoperative shear movablealong the track, a gripper for the sheet to be severed, means foractuating the gripper to seize the sheet, means for thereafter actuatingthe shear to sever the sheet, and a magnet goverened by the movement ofthe sheet for controlling the gripper and shear actuating means.

17. The combination of a track, a normally inoperative shear movablealong the track, means for moving the shear along the track, a gripperfor the sheet to be severed, a continually running motor for actuatingthe gripper and shear, gearing connecting the motor with the gripper andshear, said gearing comprising a one-revolution clutch, and meanscontrolled by the movement of the sheet to actuate the clutch.

18. The combination of a track, a normally inoperative shear, means formoving the shear along the track, a gripper for the of "e."

sheet to be severed,-a continually running motor for actuating thegripper and shear, gearing connecting the motor with the gripper andshear, said gearing comprising a one-revolution clutch, anelectro-magnet for controlling the clutch, a circuit for the magnet, anda switch operated by movement of the sheet for closing the circuit toenergize the magnet.

19. The combination of a shear for a continuously moving sheet offibrous material comprising two flat bars normally on one side of thesheet and a third bar movable down between the other two from the otherside of the sheet, an actuating member for the movable bar, a normallyinactive con-' ing witnesses.

BEN K. FORD.

Witnesses:

EDWARD N. PAGELsEN, HUGO W. KREINBRING.

